As a sales rep. in the pharmaceutical industry for 25 years, I find that
the incidences of what some call "unethical" practices is quite rare.
Indeed, most of these unethical practices emanate from generic producers
who have less concern for consistent quality than from companies whose
future depends on consistent quality well above USP standards due to the
relatively short time they have to recoup cost of development and
generation of funds for additional research. These events are so rare
that when they do occur, they generally make news headlines. As for the
pill turning yellow, even a generic manufacturer is not likely to market a
product that is visibly deteriorated; the long term effects for the
patients, and, consequently the company, would be detrimental. Occasional
color changes do occur with age that have nothing to do with the quality
of the product. The pharmaceutical industry is one of the most
responsible and socially concious industries in the world. If every
industry utilized the level of ethics and quality control practiced by the
pharmaceutical industry, there would be few complaints of any kind.
Best regards,
John